@spicedawg56 It is! Yet remember email is a social network. @Collectual these folks own social media budgets: LIST http://bit.ly/cgtcJs in reply to spicedawg56 5 days ago
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Roadmap: Make Your Corporate Websites Relevant by Integrating Facebook, Google, MySpace, LinkedIn, or Twitter

Categories: Matrix, Social MediaPosted on March 1st, 2010
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Finally, your corporate website can be relevant again
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been conducting research to measure how different social networks allow for integration with corporate websites and their assets. Over 3 years ago, I wrote a piece on how corporate websites are becoming irrelevant, due to trusted decisions between prospects and customers taking place off the corporate site. This piece, which still gets traffic has been translated into over a dozen languages –the market recognizes that corporate sites can no longer operate as silos when customers have left.

[Companies must integrate customers behavior on social networks to their corporate website to increase relevancy, word of mouth, and trust]

A plethora of options creates confusion in the market
Fast forward to 2010, and there too many options for brands to integrate these social features.  While many have used community platforms to allow customers to connect to each other on branded domains, this strategy works for loyal customers and often may not reach prospects.  Social networks, which have your customers and prospects, have taken note, and have launched a variety of products that allows their thriving communities of buyers and prospects to connect with static corporate sites.  The challenge?  There are so many features available, it’s confusing to figure out what to do.

Use this data as a roadmap and guide
Companies and organizations are confused by the wide variety of choices that social networks offer to help them connect to their customers, so I’ve created this menu to help them in understanding.

Matrix: Feature Attribute Benefits of Social Integration

Feature What it does Benefits Downsides What no one tells you
Sharing Features Allows users to share content from corporate websites to social networks Free to deploy, as social newtorks offer features or Sharethis or Addthis Beyond sharing and simple analytics, there’s limited functionality It’s scary to send traffic away –but it cause viral effects you didn’t expect
Embeds and Widgets Embed features on social networks (like Facebook Fan Reactions) on your corporate website Breathes real social interaction to static corporate sites, showing real world customer interaction Control over what’s being said is limited. If you don’t integrate this with your look and feel and use default features your site will look amateur
Authentication Login to a website using a social networking login, often through two clicks like Twitter connect. Increase chances of interaction. Users hate filling out registration pages, so this allows them to ‘login’ faster using their own login. You have less ability to glean their email address, as they’ve logged in another route. In the long run, you’ll have disparate data. Social networks are really an identity play, by using this, they gain more control.
Cross Publishing from my site to social networks “Pollination” Users can share information to specific friends in their social networks Rapid sharing of content, and sometimes the ability for users to specifically select who they’ll share to –this is beyond simple sharing features as activities and actions can quickly spread Spreading information means more disparate instances of data, making it hard for brands to maintain control. Careful.  Don’t allow for users to simply spam their friends with content, be selective.
Real time updates Update websites in real time with social content on corporate sites. Enable your corporate site to really be real time through updates in social networks in real time, and vice versa. Not all content will be relevant, and excessive updates will become white noise. Use this for key events, or important customer transactions, not the mundane activity.
Social Personalisation Serve up content based on users profile information and previous behavior, see VW’s early experiments Rather than subject customers to a generic user experience on your corporate website, customize the experience based on their social networking profile, increasing relevancy. Create a series of specific content types is costly, as well as the engine to develop this. Don’t assume what a customer does in Twitter is relevant to your own product, one size does not fit all.
Social Context Present real time information based on their friends behavior, see HuffPo. Allow your users friends to increase relevancy by suggesting content and products to each other –increasing rate of action. This is very complicated system to create, and requires a mindset to let go to gain more as users may say and recommend things you don’t like. Every company is a media company, and the smartest companies realize they are a marketplace.
Application Platform A platform that offers third parties to create web based applications using the social networks APIs, access to data Companies want to extend unique features onto social networks (like the most popular content on a corporate site) to increase interaction Costs to developing these applications are high, you need specific developers that understand the ever changing nuances of these platforms You’ll need long term resources or budget to do this and your existing team may not have the skill set.

Now that we’ve established a clear sense of the benefits and risks, let’s dive in and understand who offers what.  I’ve created the following matrix that I will keep up to date, that will fast forward research activities.

Who Offers What: Social Networking Integration Features

Facebook Google LinkedIn MySpace Twitter
Sharing Features Yes Yes Yes Yes, Share on MySpace Yes
Embeds and Widgets Yes, Fan Box Yes, third parties Yes, 3rd parties Yes, every page offers embed code Yes, see Twitter Widgets
Authentication
without password		 Yes, FB
Connect		 OAuth Yes, OAuth OpenID, OAuth, and MySpaceID Yes
OAuth
Cross Publishing
(Pollination)		 Yes Yes (Buzz) Yes (via REST APIs) Yes, Share on MySpace Yes, + with 3rd party tools
Real time
updates
between sites		 Yes (PubSubHubbub) Yes (via REST APIs) Yes, Real Time Stream Yes
Social Personalization Yes Yes Yes (via REST APIs) Yes, this can be done through MySpace’s REST APIs. Yes. Access all twitter profile info and some behavioral data.
Social Context Yes. see
Examples		 Yes, with Google Friend Connect Yes (Most content on the site) Yes. MySpace Real Time Stream to get songs from friends, could also use data to suggest artists to others. Yes. One could show articles from the people you follow have shared or tweeted about. Example: Feedera digest.
Application Platform Yes Yes Offers
an OpensSocial platform
to select partners		 Yes, OpenSocial. Yes. See wiki and getting started guide.

Update:  Duzins, from Yahoo has left a comment below showing all of the capabilities that Yahoo has to offer, go into the comments to learn more.

Recommendations: Develop a Pragmatic Strategy

  • First, understand your customers. It’s unrealistic for you to deploy all of the features above, in fact that would only confuse your customers. Instead do research and find out where your customers are.  Then, you’ll know which social network to focus on, and data showing their existing behaviors will tell you which features to focus on.
  • Integrate this with your website roadmap. Start simple then evolve. Don’t try to boil the ocean, start small with simple sharing features, then follow the stack as I laid out in the second matrix.  This is a roadmap that you should use to across the next few years as your corporate website evolves, fusing in social features.
  • Find partners and agencies that will guide you. Don’t go this alone, find agency partners, or technology providers that know this space and have experiences to reduce your risk.  For example, managing all the social connections is more than a brand can take on, for example Gigya, (an Altimeter client) manages all those connections for brands.  Forward this post to agency partners and ask them where they are on this roadmap and who they’ve partnered with to do this.

Other Resources

Research Sources
I did my own research to fill in the matrix as much as possible, then went directly to folks that work at those social networks to verify. Thanks to the helpful and knowledgeable Josh Elman, Chris Messina, Adam Nash, (LinkedIn), Amy Walgenbach (MySpace).

Translations From The Community

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This entry was posted on Monday, March 1st, 2010 at 8:23 am and is filed under Matrix, Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

View Comments
  • liliag
    I surely wasn't expecting to find so many useful things in one post. Indeed, it's time for companies to get a better understanding of what their clients are looking for and try getting their names all over the social networks. We can easily see how Facebook and Twitter were specially created for this dialogue between the company and the client.
    Lilia Gephardt
    Reseller hosting
  • Yeah , That very Nice Blog ,, But you forget to mention for creating third party blog for Branding purpose Like Wordpress and Blogger
  • Raj
    I simply loved this..
  • Thank you ;)
  • savannahogutu
    There are certainly a good deal of details like that to take into consideration.
  • Well said, I feel like more corporate entity's need to use this type of information to get ahead in their competitive environments. Just a simple retweet and fb button are all it takes to start getting a ton of free traffic from social media, so why not?!
  • Its Definitely good bookmarking for future reference.
  • Great matrix! This will help users which social media would be most effective on their preference.
  • Terrific information, thanks.
  • A platform that offers third parties to create web based applications using the social networks APIs, access to data
  • Thanks. I like that
  • It is interesting to indicate the two flavours of identity provisioning
  • Social networking is a waste of resources for little gain. People and business fail to realize that they do not own what they are putting up on those sites. If you don't have access to the database of users, you have nothing.

    All you are doing is giving these sites content upon which they monetize. Quit stuffing Zuckerberg's pockets you bunch of tools.
  • this is testing comenets
  • noonoob
  • arnold
    excellent!

    Have you heard about Mojofiti.com? http://www.mojofiti.com is a website where anyone can get an international blog and every entry, email and group is translated into 28 different languages for free. It's awesome, finally a world without language barriers!
  • arnold
    This is great space!

    Have you heard about Mojofiti.com? http://www.mojofiti.com is a website where anyone can get an international blog and every entry, email and group is translated into 28 different languages for free. It's awesome, finally a world without language barriers!
  • laxman79
    Is there any API in C#+Asp.net for Real time streaming for MySpace?
  • munchkins505
    This is good info. You might want to share it with some others.I use
    http://www.dnavertical.com for my outsourced business development. I'm sure
    that others would want to talk to them. They do great work and are helping
    us keep the costs down for growing our business.
  • Hi Jeremiah,

    I most certainly agree with you, since social media is of such great help in customer communication, then websites should integrate those as to increase their relevance. Loved the matrix deatils as well.
  • I too feel that any social media is an organic process. From the inside out. It is our company mantra (link below). In the B2B market there is a questions "how do I make this work for our business". Just like the web and email were an unknown, 10 years ago, to many of them. Constant education and examples of what others are doing helps. Also creating a process/plan that the C-levels can understand what they "need" to do on a daily/weekly basis helps take the fear out of the unknown.

    http://www.serviceseven.com/mantra.html
  • Hi Jeremiah,

    One thing I find with clients is always highlighting the relevance to be in the social media/community space and how this impacts their brand online. After the news of Omniture and Facebook anlytics coming together the more tools like this that consolidate the whole lead generation and conversion funnel the easier it will be in reporting and showing more precise ROI for corporates! Love the blog as always.

    Cheers,
    Daniel Easterbrook
  • Pasquale
    Jeremiah your analisis are always brilliant! Thank you for share your knowledge..
  • thank's for your recommandation.

    Your article is so interessing and pragmatic that i propose a translation in french here:
    http://emmachambon.web-projet.com
  • Audrey Craipain
    Hi Jeremiah - Audrey Craipain from SHIFT Communications here - helpful post, could you name a few examples of corporate websites that in your opinion "get it" and reflect the best case scenarios as broken down above?
  • Nice post! First one I read on your blog & I'm hooked. :) We're currently looking at integrating social more into our overall corporate web strategy, and this provides a great rubric/checklist for anyone.
  • Great post, I hope that more and more people understand the importance of having a presence within external sites (where appropriate) in order to drive traffic and awareness of their brand. But it is not only about the presence, it is also about the interactions that you had within those external sites that can have a significant impact on your business, whatever it may be. Love your last 3 "Recommendations" dead-on.
  • GREAT article. Thanks for breaking it down like this. I, too, will be passing this along to my clients.
  • Nicole
    GREAT Article. I am forwarding now.
    Thanks
  • Great, practical info. Thanks for sharing! I'd add caveat, though, that this roadmap applies if/when a company has committed to actively managing and delivering relevant content via the social networks they are driving to. Just putting the icons on your corporate site does not make it more relevant. Sending people to a lame Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn Group experience could, in fact, give the impression that your company is just playing the "me too" game and just does not get it.
  • Wow, excellent post. Was just setting op a SWAP for a concept for a client of ours. This is very helpfull. Thanks a lot.
  • I'm so happy to hear I helped your efforts --I'm glad I saved everyone time.
  • Hi Jeremiah,

    Thanks for the post. Its very useful. Why can't we add Sidewiki to my corporate website to drive more conversations?

    Thanks,
    Wicke
  • I'm not sure that's something corporations can really drive --isn't that initiated from the user side through a browser plugin? It's a different use case.
  • Useful article Jeremiah, and what you've said about the location of your customers, like Seth underlines, is quite important. No use integrating with the network your clients use the least. So many options, so little time....
  • whitneybenjamin
    This is amazing. Thank you for this complex but yet seemingly simple concept.
  • Great post and useful info to pass along to clients. I'd like to see your matrix expanded to also include tools like forums, groups (Ning, Google, Yahoo etc.), and even customer service/feedback (GetSatisfaction etc.) interactions as additional points of contact, both on and off the company site. Using these platforms to strengthen existing customer relations with an open window to a great company culture that supports its clientele, and the confidence to show it off, would be a persuasive way to win new prospects - no matter how they came to the corporate web site.
  • Adel

    Yup, I've covered those communities quite frequently in other post, in this one, I wanted to just focus on what I call 'organic' social networks that aren't white labeled.

    It's a big space, and it's hard to track.
  • Thanks Jeremiah. Yes, the space is huge, and I appreciate the importance of taking it one chunk at a time. I've expanded on my thoughts about incorporating community platforms and teaming them with social media on corporate web sites. But it's definitely not an exercise for companies who don't exceed at customer service. Thanks again for the response. http://www.adelemcalear.com/2010/03/01/deeper-than-social-customer-service-and-culture/
  • duzins
    Jeremiah,

    Love the chart, very helpful! BTW, thought I'd share that Yahoo! has many of these options too via our social apis.
    -- “Sharing Features”: Yes
    -- “Embeds and Widgets”: Yes <http: 06="" 17="" 2009="" blog="" www.yuiblog.com="" yui-and-yql="">
    -- “Authentication without password”: Yes - OpenID, OAuth - http://developer.yahoo.com/oauth/guide/
    -- “Cross Publishing (Pollination)”: Yes - Yahoo! Updates - http://developer.yahoo.com/social/updates/
    -- “Real time updates between sites” - Yes - Yahoo! Updates - http://developer.yahoo.com/social/updates/
    -- “Social Personalization”: Yes - Profiles - http://profiles.yahoo.com, OpenSocial - http://code.google.com/apis/opensocial
    -- “Social Context”: Yes - Updates shared between connections
    -- “Application Platform”: Yes - YAP http://developer.yahoo.com/yap/homepage/

    Cheers!</http:>
  • Duzins thanks for this, I'll update the text to reflect this.
  • Great post! The charts are very captivating. Thank you.
  • Jeremiah, great post to show features and benefits of social media tools. Especially helpful to newbies!!
  • Jeremiah, this is a great post to help newbies sort out the benefits and features of social media tools. Thanks so much!
  • I couldn't agree more, Jeremiah.

    Many of your ideas are equally relevant for corporate blogs, especially given the fragmentation of conversations these days over social networking sites.
  • Jeremiah

    Thanks so much for compiling this chart. There is just so many tools/platforms available to businesses that instead of wanting to come over the the SM side, they run as it is overwhelming. A simple conversation with prospective small biz clients has them wondering why they should pay mind to the some of the sites when they know that soon enough the latest and greatest will be unveiled and people will run there. It is a challenge to adapt for companies that were used to a campaign and the campaign had X broadcast channels that were going to remain in place.

    I do think that with the mobile search really expanding this year and more successful SM stories emerging that companies will take advantage of the tools to integrate their trad adv with SM marketing but will be cautious.

    @SuzanneVara
  • Mobile is going to make this even more complex. We just announced that mobile expert Michael Gartenberg has joined us at Altimeter, we will tackle this complex topic.
  • John
    Very well done. Great job

    typo: Correct "orginizations"

    Use this data as a roadmap and guide
    Companies and "organizations"
  • Thanks, fixed.
  • Great piece, Jeremiah.

    Some companies forget that sales and marketing are (or should be) complementary and intertwined and that the greatest levels of success often require multiple sales and marketing channels that are also complementary and intertwined.

    The same can also be said for what firms do on/with the Internet: If they only have one channel on the Web (say a solitary Website), then there can be no cross-pollination or intertwining of effort to support each other. Ergo, smart companies have one or more Websites, supported by one or more blogs, and MULTIPLE social media/networking tools and services that they use to engage with customers, partners, investors, etc. and drive sales and evangelization.

    Again, very well put.

    Dave Politis,
    Politis Communications
  • Great web 2.0 strategy points!
    The only problem with most of our customers down here is that they still mistake the f and t icons on their new web design project with fax / telephone glyphs ;-)
  • Jeremiah, great overview!


    A crucial statement is: 'Social networks are really an identity play, by using this, they gain more control.'

    It is interesting to indicate the two flavours of identity provisioning:

    1. 'delegated' identities: this is what e.g. Facebook is doing with Facebook connect, and Twitter is doing with OAuth: 3rd party application let you authenticate using the user's Facebook / Twitter identities. They effectively create their own 'ecosystem' around Facebook and Twitter (the same goes other platforms).
    In a way this poses effective 'lock-in' of users to these platforms.

    2. 'federated' identity: OpenId is a good example; you are not bound to the identity provisioning; and no lock-in takes place.

    For authentication of blog comments, good examples are Disqus.com (seen on this blog) and ECHO (that is what I use myself on my blog http://www.jeroendemiranda.com ).
  • I was just in India and saw that Orkut still has a lot of relevance. While in The Philippines, I learned of the great presence of Friendster (?!) there and in Indonesia. And again, when in China and Japan, my colleagues informed me that social networking sites like Facebook are not nearly as popular as they are in the U.S. I guess the question I have is what happens when you are going into new markets and these go-to social networks don't have the same relevance? If I were to add one thing to your post, it might be to make sure your web developers and marketing teams have a strategy that works for the market where you want to enter or grow.
  • Seth

    The strategist should certainly find out where their customers and prospects are in social networks, and then use the right social networks depending on that region. You are right.

    Have you see my stats pages?

    http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2010/01/19/a-collection-of-social-network-stats-for-2010/
  • Not only interesting but also thorough and well-presented. Thanks Jeremiah - your blog is a tremendous source of information.
  • Really great post, especially the charts.

    Based entirely on my personal surfing experiences I'd venture to say that few brands have made it past more than 2 or 3 of these items for their corporate sites (although many networks and content sites have adopted far more) but I think that's all going to change. With 400 million users on Facebook alone + Twitter & others the upside and integration possibilities are too good to pass on for site engagement & viral exposure.

    Printing this up as a roadmap for our efforts this year. Thanks.
  • Wow that's exactly what I wanted to hear Ted.
  • this is a great overview Jeremiah. even with my simple site I have included tweetmeme, facebook connect and Disqus; which is easily accomplished with Wordpress themes (similar to your site here, actually). thanks for the overview.
    @mwalsh
  • joscelano
    Cery interesting
  • Excellent synopsis. Thank you very much for this.

    (Typo: "Fast foward to 2010,")
  • Jeremy, thanks fixed.
  • PatAllen
    Bravo! Your structuring of the work will be a meaningful aid to workgroups' plan of attack. Thank you.
  • Very good stuff Jeremiah! I definitely agree, the less features in a single website the better. I'm big fan of the understated and the ridiculously simple :)
  • alikoh
    Thanks Jeremiah. This helps a great deal.
    I've been trying to integrate social media into the marketing practices of this new company I'm working for, however, it's been overwhelming as to how many options I have out there. Your matrix gives me a good starting point. Thanks.
  • Jeremiah, I love how you have laid out this information. It's a great roadmap. Thank you.
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